


Inverse AU

by StarlightG



Category: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-18 02:49:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18111731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightG/pseuds/StarlightG
Summary: hero is not at all social, often acting very cold and distant to others. they’re still nice enough to help other pokemon in need because they know/believe it to be the right thing to do, and eventually the other pokemon in the area get used to hero’s “weird” personality. hero isn’t outright mean to anyone, they only speak their mind and the facts.partner on the other hand wants to cause chaos and in general be a ruler over everyone, and they’re the nicest, most sweetest pokemon anyone has ever met, and everyone loves and trusts them completely. hero sees partner as more of an assistant than anything else, and it secretly drives partner insane, because hero is the one pokemon they don’t have control over. and hero is the one they want control over, them being a human before is important somehow in their plot.when partner finally breaks and shows their true self and their real plan, everyone else is completely shocked and heartbroken. hero stares at them with the usual expressionless face and says “i knew there was something wrong about you, glad you proved me right.”





	1. Snapped

**Author's Note:**

> part of a PMD AU from my pmd blog, @lovepmd  
> this is just basically drabbles based on the au, probably won't be completed

Dianne is in the middle of speaking with the guildmaster when it happens. She’s not surprised by the event, but the timing was the only thing she couldn’t quite calculate.

It’s the middle of the night and they just returned from a mission, one that took much longer than they first planned, but things still went well. Her partner, Lulu, has been on pins and needles the entire day, and she was going to break eventually. It’s only Dianne, Lulu, the guildmaster Hermes, and the lone jolteon guild member, Rai here.

“I’M TIRED OF THIS!” Lulu screams suddenly, causing everyone to look at her.

“I’m sorry?” Hermes takes a step forward, and Dianne could tell he’s immediately on the defensive. He can sense it now.

“I’M TIRED OF EVERYTHING!” Lulu’s eyes are looking at them and yet past them, glaring intensely and her teeth bared. “DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD I’VE WORKED? HOW MUCH I’VE DONE IN ORDER TO GET THIS FAR?”

“What are you talking about?” Hermes questions further.

“You,” Lulu points in Dianne’s direction, anger seeping from her entire being. But the jangmo-o simply stares back at her blankly. “I had everything planned out! Everyone was supposed to love me!” The buneary stomps her foot down once. “Everyone was supposed to adore me!” Twice. “Everyone was supposed to end up answering to me!” Three times. “And I thought you coming along would’ve made that even easier for me! I thought you being a human before would’ve helped me in my plan!”

Dianne could tell now both Hermes and Rai looked at her in confusion. But she didn’t look at them and stayed silent.

“But instead you coming along ruined everything for me!” Lulu continued, her body visibly shaking. “Everyone loves you! Everyone admires you! But you’re nothing! You’re not nice, you never smile, you don’t even go outside that often! You’ve only been here for what, a couple months? And yet everyone loves you! You’re cold, you’re heartless, you don’t care about what you say to anyone, you never look happy! Then why does everyone love you?”

The buneary began to pant and silence filled the room. Dianne glanced over at the guildmaster, and his face looked troubled and confused. She looked over at the jolteon, who also looked confused but was glaring towards her partner.

…..Partner, huh?

Dianne sighed and the sound made Lulu flinch and look up at her. “I always had a feeling that something was off about you. Thanks for proving me right.”

Lulu’s eyes widened in shock, and then they quickly shifted back to anger. Dianne barely had time to blink before the buneary was right on her, spinning around to deliver a kick to the side of her head. The jangmo-o fell over and skidded a couple feet before stopping, wincing as her jaw was burning from the impact.

She heard the other two pokemon shout something, and Dianne opened one eye to look over and see Lulu coming towards her again. Now more prepared for an actual fight, Dianne sprang back up onto her feet, shifting until she was facing her partner and lowered her head. Lulu was too angry and chaotic for any real strategy, a yell coming from her as she raised up one paw. Dianne took advantage of it, holding herself steady for a moment before launching her body forward, her head coming into contact with Lulu’s stomach. 

Lulu grunted, the hit sending her backwards. She landed on her feet but leaned forward and put one paw on the ground, coughing and panting. Dianne thought for a moment it was enough to make her stop, but she was wrong. 

The buneary recovered quickly, and charged at her again. The jangmo-o stepped to the side, neatly dodging the attempted punch. Lulu spun on her feet and tried again, and Dianne took a few steps back. Her partner was clearly getting more and more frustrated, and was simply lashing out without any thought to what she was doing.

Lulu continued to try to punch and kick her, and while she landed a couple blows, Dianne managed to avoid the rest. The buneary turned around once more and Dianne expected another punch, but something was different. Lulu took a stance and sprang forward, uncurling both her ears towards the shiny and hitting her square in the face.

Dianne was thrown backwards and her back hit a wall. She groaned and her vision went blurry, her ears ringing. She heard a couple pokemon shouting, but couldn’t tell what they were saying.

A shadow loomed into her vision and she blinked a few times, her head slowly clearing enough. Lulu stood over her, glaring down at her. She was panting and her limbs were shaking, but there was nothing but anger in her eyes.

Dianne stared up at her for a moment, her mind going back to all of her time in the pokemon world. She realized now what it was that she needed to do. She closed her eyes and lowered her head.

“I told you that you’re nothing, you-”

Dianne’s eyes shot open and she quickly got on her feet, springing herself forward and headbutting Lulu. The buneary fell back with a yell, and Dianne moved quickly to step over and put her front paws on Lulu’s chest, pinning her to the ground. 

For a couple long minutes, nothing happened. They were both tired out, panting and sore. Lulu glared up at her, but Dianne just stared back in silence. Then after catching her breath enough, Dianne shifted her body and laid down on top of her partner, her front arms embracing her in a hug.

Lulu flinched and tensed up at the movement and gesture and at first did and said nothing. Then Dianne felt it; the buneary’s whole body began to shake, and she started to sob. Her arms moved up to return the hug, and she buried her face against Dianne.

They stayed like that for a while, Dianne allowing her partner to simply cry it out. She heard hushed voices nearby and looked over to see Hermes standing by the door, talking to someone she couldn’t see. Probably his partner. Rai was still standing nearby, his attention going back and forth from the guildmaster and the two of them.

The shiny felt her partner push against her, and allowed it, lowering her front limbs and stepping back. Lulu sat up, her eyes still wet and her body shaking, but she was better now. All the hatred and anger drained from her and what was left was a tired pokemon, physically and mentally.

“I’m sorry I ruined those plans of yours,” Dianne muttered. “But they wouldn’t have worked anyway, not with your strategy.”

Lulu looked up at her, but was silent.

“You were…..too happy and chipper all the time. That gets tiring, for everyone involved. And if it was fake the entire time, that’s even more tiring. Being fake doesn’t get you anywhere, or at least it doesn’t get you far for long. That’s why i prefer being honest, with myself and others. Even if i say something that seems mean or if i don’t sugarcoat things. I don’t see the point in doing that. Spare their feelings? Sure, but you’re being dishonest when you do that. And your actions say a lot about you. I like to help others because….because it feels nice.” Dianne rolled her eyes. “As corny as that sounds, it’s the truth. Seeing others unhappy in any way doesn’t make me feel good at all. Seeing others happy and knowing i helped that happen does make me feel good. I did that. I like working here because I get the chance to do that every day. And that’s amazing to me. Maybe….maybe you should start being more open and honest. With yourself and others. Holding things in isn’t healthy.”

For a moment, Lulu glared at her, but it quickly faded. She lowered her gaze to the ground and sighed heavily. “You hit hard, and not just in a fight,” she mumbled.

Dianne gently nudged her with her head. “You did help train me when I first arrived, that’s partly your fault.”

Lulu glared at her again, but there was no real hatred in it.

Dianne continued, gazing down at the ground. “I don’t see anyone as a friend. I never saw the point of having actual friends. But being here like this in this world, and you forcing yourself into my life, I’m starting to get it now. A little bit. I might not know a whole lot about how to be friends with other pokemon, but I do know that someone like you needs a friend. An actual friend, not these fake friendships you’ve been building. You need to care about others, acting all cute isn’t going to get you anywhere in the long run.”

Lulu was quiet, clearly pondering over her words. Then she slowly stood up, wincing. Now that Dianne thought about it, she was pretty sore as well. Her head hurt all over, along with the couple spots on her body that got hit.

“Is…everything ok now?”

The shiny looked over to see the guildmaster standing by them, looking at them curiously. Rai was also there, more keeping an eye on Lulu.

“Yes, I think so,” Dianne glanced at her partner, who was now looking down in shame.

“Well, that was quite the outburst,” the sceptile muttered, shaking his head. “Team Flare, you two are now on leave. Go home and rest and stay there for now, no more work until I say it’s ok. There’s…more I wish to talk about, but it’s already late. We’ll talk more in the morning. Is all of this clear?”

“Yes, guildmaster.” The two of them said simultaneously, Lulu’s voice much lower.

“Good, now go home.”


	2. Whispers

Dianne woke up the next morning to the sound of voices. She opened her eyes slowly and peered towards her window, it was a bit past dawn.

Good thing we’re on leave right now, or we’d be late, she thought. As the shiny stood up in her bed, she remembered the events of the night before. …..right…..

She stretched out her limbs and gently rubbed her claws against her jaw. It was still a little sore, but not as bad as she thought it would be. The voices continued talking, and the jangmo-o hopped off her bed and walked out of her room.

There in the front room of the house was Lulu, Hermes, and the cafe owner. Lulu was sitting at the table, her head down and quietly munching on an oran berry. The guildmaster and decidueye were talking to each other.

“Alright, thank you for coming out here so early,” Hermes reached out and shook the decidueye’s wing fingers.

“It’s fine, I’ll let her know about this.” The cafe owner returned, glancing over to see Dianne standing there. She simply gave the shiny a look that said good luck, and walked out of the home.

The sceptile looked over and noticed her standing there. “Ah, Dianne, you’re awake.”

Dianne nodded, stepping over to the table and taking a seat by it, reaching over with a claw to pull an oran berry closer. “Why was she here?”

“I felt that Lulu needed someone to talk to, and you know about the milotic that lives at the cafe?”

She nodded again, taking a bite.

“Well, we noticed that Lulu never went to talk to her before, and…we think she needs it now.” Hermes paused to look at the buneary. She was still quiet and looking down at the table. “But there’s…a bit of semi bad news.”

“What?” Dianne took another bite and tilted her head.

“Her outburst might’ve been in the middle of the night, but it was still inside the guild. It woke up more pokemon than I first thought. And more pokemon peeked in than I first thought. Long story short, the whole town knows.” Hermes sighed and crossed his arms. “I was hoping to keep this whole thing private, but with this town…it’s not easy.”

Dianne swallowed and looked over at her partner. She still looked tired, there was no cheery over-the-top-happy personality there anymore. And she definitely looked defeated and embarrassed. She said she wanted everyone to love her. To end up answering to her, like their queen. And now everyone was aware of her true personality and intentions. Her entire scheme fell apart in a single night, and it’s only her fault.

Well, that might not be completely true.

“I think it’s safe to say that she shouldn’t go outside anytime soon, at least not alone.” The guildmaster continued. “But we need her to go and do some therapy sessions. We’ll figure out a plan for getting her over there or vis versa in order to get it all worked out. For today, just…relax. Think of it as a simple day off.”

“Am I allowed to go outside, sir?” Dianne asked.

Hermes was quiet for a moment and sighed. “You can, but…be careful, alright? Let’s keep the details about what happened to ourselves for now. I’m sure someone out there will want to ask you questions.”

“And they should mind their own business,” Dianne muttered, popping the rest of the oran berry in her mouth.

Hermes chuckled. “I’m confident you can handle yourself then. I will stop by later today when I have time.” He looked over at Lulu and gently placed one hand on her shoulder. She tensed up a moment but didn’t look at him and remained quiet. The sceptile moved away and left the home.

“Why would you want to go outside?” Lulu asked after a few moments of silence.

“We still have to organize our bags from our last mission. I have a couple items to sell and to store.” Dianne got up and walked over to where her bag was hanging up on the wall.

“You can do that later, everyone will bother you right now.” Her partner pointed out.

“And if they do, I’ll ignore them or tell them it’s none of their business.” The jangmo-o pushed her head in between the straps of the bag and plopped it on her back, adjusting the strap with a claw. Satisfied, she looked back at Lulu. “I won’t be long. Want me to get you anything?”

The buneary shook her head and looked back down at the table. Dianne hesitated for a moment before stepping over to the door and going outside.

–

It was worse than she thought, but she wasn’t overall surprised. She always had a hard time keeping hidden around the town due to her bright scales, but this time felt different. Eyes peered at her from all over and the sound of whispering was almost deafening. 

“Did you hear about what happened last night?”

“They said she went completely insane!”

“She attacked her own partner? How could that happen?”

“Apparently she wanted to control all of us!”

“She always seemed so sweet and kind. We truly had no idea.”

“What does Hermes think about the whole thing? Will they get kicked out?”

“She shouldn’t be punished for being attacked! She needs a better partner.”

“Apparently Rai was there, but no one’s been able to ask him about it.”

“Just goes to show that you can’t trust others sometimes.”

Thankfully, all the shopkeepers, the banker, and the storage keeper didn’t press Dianne for details. They simply did their jobs, but she could tell. They’d give her a look, one that said I’m sorry, and continue with their jobs.

Dianne didn’t notice just how cloudy it was until she felt a drop on her head. She stopped walking and looked up at the sky. There was some dark clouds above, drizzling down onto the town. She could still see the sun nearby, and it didn’t look like a whole storm was going to roll through. At least not right now.

She looked around at all the pokemon rushing to take cover from the rain, though some simply kept to business as usual, not minding a little water.

“Dianne!”

The shiny flinched at the sudden yell of her name and looked around until she found the source. The wooper apprentice from the guild was running over to her.

“Tessa,” She addressed, turning to face the wooper as she skidded to a halt in front of her.

Tessa panted for a couple seconds then waved her tail to her front, holding up a bag hanging from it. “Here! It’s from both of us, I wanted to give it to you before we left on our training.” She smiled. “It’s an old puzzle game we used to play, it helps time pass by. We thought you two would enjoy it for your little vacation!”

Dianne stared at her. Did Hermes tell them that they were simply on vacation? Or did the child know about what happened? Surely she heard some of the whispers going on around town, it was impossible to miss. But here she was, innocent as ever, offering a gift.

The jangmo-o sighed and reached over, taking the bag and putting it onto her back. “Thank you, I’m sure we’ll enjoy it. Now go along, you don’t want to be late.”

The wooper grinned. “You’re welcome!” She quickly turned around and ran off, going back to the guild.

Dianne stood there for a moment before turning around and heading home. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she already decided to be there for her partner. No matter what anyone else says.


	3. Secrets

It had been three full days since the incident. Not much had changed overall. Hermes figured the best time to do the therapy sessions was at night, where he’d escort Lulu to the cafe and then bring her back home. According to the “water therapist”, it took a bit for the buneary to open up and start talking, so she said they’d need to talk often in order to start making progress. Of course she doesn’t tell Dianne what has been said so far, the milotic is known for keeping secrets well.

And while Dianne knows and respects that, it bothers her at the moment. Lulu hasn’t talked to her too much, only doing small talk now and then. But she knows to not prod either her partner or her therapist too much about it, maybe things will change eventually.

In the meantime, Dianne has been bored. Without being allowed to go on jobs yet, she hasn’t done much. It’s like back when she first came into the pokemon world and moved into town, she didn’t like going outside with her bright scales and she hadn’t been hired into the guild yet. 

Even though nothing is stopping her from walking around outside, she still hears the whispers of the townsfolk. It has lessened a little bit, but she hates the feeling of their eyes looking at her and then hearing their hushed voices.

The shiny had been playing with the puzzle game the apprentice gave her. It reminded her a puzzle she once played as a human, but like all her thoughts and memories about her past, it was hazy and not complete. And it did help time pass by, but she grew bored of that as well.

It was late at night now, and Hermes already picked up Lulu for her therapy session. Dianne tried to stay awake for when they came back, but sleep was quickly winning her over. She closed her eyes and slowly began to drift to sleep.

tap tap tap!

Dianne flinched and raised her head at the sound of knocking. Who would be knocking at this hour? And if they were back already, they would just come inside. She yawned and debated on getting up.

tap tap tap!

She sighed and stood up in bed, arching her back for a moment before hopping off and heading to the front door. Dianne opened it just enough to peer outside and saw a jolteon standing there.

“Rai,” she muttered, trying to stifle another yawn. “What is it?”

The jolteon looked around the area before addressing her. “Sorry for stopping by so late. Can we talk?”

“Can it wait until morning?” Dianne’s eyes were halfway closed.

“I work in the morning like I do every day. There’s something I want to ask you. Can you come with me?”

Dianne sighed and slowly opened the door enough to step outside. “Alright, fine. But if the guildmaster and Lulu come back before I do, that’s your fault.”

Rai huffed and muttered something under his breath, but she didn’t hear it. He looked around the area again before walking away. Dianne closed the door behind her and followed.

The town was so quiet and still at night. The small remaining flames from various lanterns flickered in the wind, the moonlight from above providing the most light. All the store fronts were closed and locked up, and there wasn’t another pokemon in sight.

The jolteon led her across town to the very edge, and went down a small path. Dianne was aware where this led, she had been to this lake before but only during the day. They reached the opening, and Dianne took in the sight of it.

The water reflected the moonlight beautifully, it looked like little lights danced across the surface. She heard odd sounds coming from nearby and looked around to try to find the source.

“Kricketots and kricketunes,” Rai explained. “They like hanging around the lake at night, but aren’t too fond of strangers. Don’t worry, they’re not hostile.”

Dianne nodded and sat down, looking over at him. “Alright, what did you want to ask me? And why drag me all the way out here?”

“Privacy,” he muttered, sitting down nearby. “And another reason, but less important.” Rai looked at her, almost suspiciously. “Is it true what Lulu said?”

“Is what true?” Dianne asked in return. It had been a little while, but-

“Are you really a human?”

Oh. The jangmo-o almost forgot about the fact her partner spilled her biggest secret. Hermes hadn’t talked to her about it yet, but he had been busy with guild work. And Rai was there, of course he heard it too. She suddenly remembered how other pokemon woke up and peeked into the room at the time. Did anyone else hear it? Not as far as she was aware, all the whispers she heard had been about Lulu, not her. 

She was quiet for a long moment, and then she sat up straight and looked at him in the eyes. “Yes,” she answered. “I don’t remember anything but my name and the fact I was once human. I don’t know why I woke up here or anything.”

Rai stared back at her and she could see the gears turning in his head. He was truly mulling over her words and then he looked out at the water. “Ok.”

Dianne was taken aback and snorted. “’Ok’? That’s all you have to say about that?”

“It’s more common than you would think. You have to ask the right pokemon, but there are various stories bout humans appearing in this world for different reasons.” Rai sighed and for once, Dianne saw some sadness in his eyes. “My partner used to be a human.”

She stared at him in silence as those words slowly processed in her mind. “…What?”

“I came from a different continent. I wasn’t…a very good child back when I was an eevee.” Rai shook his head. “One day I found a pokemon in the middle of the woods. I thought they were dead at first, but then they woke up. We ended up teaming up, and we caused a bunch of trouble together.”

“You sound like quite the duo,” Dianne muttered.

“We didn’t hurt anyone or anything, we were more a couple troublesome kids than actual criminals.” Rai paused and sighed. “We…stole something we shouldn’t have. Some kind of blue orb. We didn’t know what it was and no one else did either. So we just kept it. I did tell him once that I did want to join a guild someday, but I didn’t think anywhere would accept me for who I am.”

“A jerk?” The shiny asked.

Rai glared at her. “Yes, a jerk.” He looked back over at the water. “But he told me that he knew that I had a good heart. And that I would be part of a guild someday. Then…we were going through a dungeon one day, one that was mostly in water. It was a cave we wanted to get through to get to the next town. We got into the deepest part of the dungeon, and there was a huge underground lake there. Strange symbols on the walls. They were faded, and we just didn’t think much of it. Then his bag began to glow and the blue orb came out and floated in the air.” The jolteon took a deep breath. “It shot off into the water and the whole cave started to collapse. We ran as fast as we could, but…something stopped him at one point. We were almost out, and I looked back and he stopped and stared at the water. I yelled at him to keep moving, but he wasn’t listening. The water rushed in and it spat me out of the dungeon, but…I never saw him again.”

The jolteon lowered his head and Dianne saw his whole body shiver. They were both quiet for a minute and then she mumbled, “I’m sorry.”

Rai nodded. “It was years ago at this point. I went into the next town for help. Most of the water somehow vanished, like it just drained out of the dungeon overnight if not sooner. We didn’t find anything, no trace of the orb or my partner. Eventually everyone gave up, and I moved here. Found this town, trained at the guild and started working there. I told Hermes I was better on my own and I didn’t need a partner. But the truth was that no one could replace him.”

“So you never told anyone about this?” Dianne asked.

“No, you’re the first. I doubt anyone else would believe me. And I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone.” Rai looked at her. “And I won’t tell anyone about how you were a human before.”

Dianne rolled her eyes. “Fair enough. We’re even then.” She thought for a moment before asking. “You said that it’s more common than I think for humans to appear here and how there were stories.”

“Yes, I did some poking around afterwards about humans, but never told them why I was asking. A few pokemon told me of stories they heard where humans came in in order to save the world. Even a couple stories where they ended up living peacefully here without doing anything extraordinary. Maybe there’s a purpose to some humans coming here and maybe it’s sometimes a mistake.” Rai shrugged. “I don’t know anything for sure. But…if you need anything, I got your back.”

Dianne was a bit surprised, but nodded. “Right. Thanks, Rai.”

Rai nodded in return and looked around. “It’s getting late, we should go back.”

Without another word, the two stood up and made their way back into town.

-

Rai only escorted her back halfway before he left to go into the guild. Dianne went home and stepped inside, looking around. It was quiet and no one was in the front room and she closed the door behind her.

“Where did you go?”

The jangmo-o jumped at the voice and looked back to see Lulu standing in the doorway of her room.

“Out,” Dianne simply answered.

“This late?” The buneary tilted her head at her.

“Yeah, I was bored.” Dianne yawned and headed towards her room. “Sorry if I worried you at all.”

One of Lulu’s ears lowered and she pawed at the fluff on the end of it. “Um…”

Dianne stopped and looked at her, curious. “What?”

The buneary sighed and looked at her. “I uh…I want to talk to you about some things tomorrow.”

Dianne couldn’t help but feel happy at the sound of that. “Sure, that’s fine with me.”

Lulu gave her a small smile and began stepping back into her room. “Right, ok, goodnight.”

“Night,” Dianne went into her room and plopped on her bed, curling up. Tomorrow better be a good day, she thought as she drifted to sleep.


	4. Partners

The next morning, Dianne and Lulu sat in silence at the table. Dianne wanted to ask her what she wanted to talk about, start the conversation, but she also wanted to not push her partner into talking if she ended up changing her mind.

They finished munching on berries for breakfast and the shiny debated on going outside for a little bit, maybe Lulu still wanted to think things over and she’d be fine giving her space for-

“So.”

Dianne blinked and looked over at Lulu, who was looking away and playing with her ear again like she did last night. When did she pick up that habit?

“She said that one of the first things i should do is be honest. I know more about you than you know about me, so…it’s only fair for me to share a little.” Lulu sighed.

“That’s fair, though only fair enough since I don’t remember my past.” Dianne shrugged. 

“True,” the buneary mumbled, picking at the fur at the end of her ear. “So, first things first. The name Lulu. It’s technically my nickname that I’ve been going by since I came here. My actual name is Luella.”

“Really?” Dianne tilted her head and thought for a moment. “Luella…it’s a pretty name.”

‘Luella’ held her ear even closer to her face for a couple moments, but Dianne could still see how embarrassed she looked.

“I don’t mind being called that now, but I don’t know yet about spreading that out to everyone else.” Lulu adjusted her ear and looked over.

The shiny nodded. “No problem.”

Lulu sighed heavily and finally let go of her ear and she put both paws on the table. “I was born and raised in a village pretty far from here. My parents, they…they know where I am, but I haven’t spoken to them since I left.”

“You never sent them a letter?” Dianne asked.

The buneary shook her head. “No, I never felt the need to do that. I don’t know when exactly, but it must’ve started there. I just…” Lulu glared down at the table and Dianne took a moment to back away an extra inch. “All I could think about was how I wanted to rule over everyone. I wanted to be treated like a queen. I wanted everyone to love me and obey all my commands. Even the legendaries would bow down to me!” 

Lulu raised her arms up and slammed them down on the table, causing it to rise a bit off the ground on Dianne’s side for a moment. She was glad she moved away in time.

Her partner continued to glare at the table, her anger growing. “I was planning things out! I almost had this town under my paw! Hermes wouldn’t let me join the guild at first, because I didn’t have a partner and he thought I was too weak. So I sneaked off and trained all on my own! Even though I wanted to be seen as something to protect, I also wanted to show everyone how strong I really was! No one would dare to disrespect me and not just out of fear of my subjects, but my own wrath! I was to be in command of everyone everywhere!”

Lulu finally stopped and began panting, her voice tired from raising it so loud and talking so fast.

Dianne stared at her. While this didn’t surprise her considering her partner’s original outburst, she underestimated just how much anger had been boiled up inside. But it only made sense. Up until that breakdown, she only displayed a cutesy personality all the time. It truly was that it would’ve been a matter of time before she broke.

“When I found you out there,” Lulu continued, a bit calmer now. “And you told me that you were a human, I thought I found my missing piece. Somehow, you were going to help me achieve my goal. Though at first, I was worried that things weren’t going to work out, you weren’t behaving in the way I hoped you would. And everyone wasn’t super fond of you at first. But then we formed our team, we did missions, and things started to click in. They started to like you, they started to respect you. It made sense to me, because you showed them how strong you were and that earned their respect.”

“Wrong,” Dianne interrupted. The buneary flinched and looked up at her. “It wasn’t because I was strong that everyone started to like me. I was…honest. I didn’t lie with my words, I went out and helped other pokemon. It wasn’t physical strength that impressed them so much, I showed them that I did have a strong heart.” She shook her head. “That sounds so cheesy and I hate it, but it’s the truth.”

Lulu stared at her for a moment and then started giggling. “That was cheesy.”

Dianne sighed and placed one paw on the table, partly extending it out towards her partner. “Anyway, you get my point. I honestly think we’re pretty different, but also a bit of the same. I think I understand why I came here.”

The buneary tilted her head curiously.

“To prevent you from becoming an insane ruler of the pokemon world.” Dianne couldn’t help having the smallest sly smirk on her face.

Lulu snorted. “Oh my Arceus, when you put it that way, that’s…” She trailed off and sighed.

“Hey,” Dianne muttered, getting her partner’s attention. “Thanks for sharing with me today, it means a lot. And we’re partners, remember? I’m here for you.”

Lulu seemed to shrink into the floor a little in embarrassment, and glanced down at the shiny’s extended paw before reaching out with her own slowly. “Still? Even after all I said and did? And tried to do?”

Dianne nodded, closing the distance and lightly placing her claws on top of her partner’s paw. “Even after all of that.”

Lulu took a deep breath and looked at her. Dianne could see there was still a long way to go, but perhaps the first obstacle was dealt with.

“Ok.”


	5. First Steps

Dianne could tell how nervous her partner was. And she didn’t blame her. While the town managed to quiet down a little with their whispering and rumors, there was no doubt there would be something once Luella showed her face.

But she needed to step outside sooner or later. Even if she was well enough to do guild work again, she would have to face going out in public in order to do it.

Luella stood in front of the door, clutching her bag tightly with both paws. They agreed to start simple, just going out for a short shopping trip.

Dianne waited patiently for her partner to open the door, and she almost was about to ask if she changed her mind when the buneary spoke up.

“Ok,” she muttered under her breath, taking a step forward and pushing the door open, the morning sun in her face and causing her to blink for a few moments.

They both walked out and headed towards the storage first. Lulu didn’t let Dianne empty her bag out before, she wanted to wait to do it herself. They were halfway there when the shiny noticed Lulu’s ear twitch.

“Look, she’s out! I almost wanted to believe they moved her out of town.”

“The water therapist did say they were talking though, I doubt she’d lie about that.”

“Is it really safe for her to stay here?”

“She isn’t hopping around like she used to though, see? Something changed.”

“Just how much can we still trust her after all of that? She was the nicest around, everyone liked her!”

“I don’t know, it depends on her, honestly.”

Dianne heard it all, like she expected to. She looked at her partner, and spotted her paws shaking as she gripped her bag strap even tighter. Her expression looked calm, but being right next to her, the shiny could see how her jaw was clenched.

They made it to storage, and Dianne spotted the apprentice team at the front.

“We’ll need a couple more oran berries, you ate one in the last dungeon yesterday!” The wooper slapped her tail on the ground.

“Oh yeah! Two more oran berries, please! And then that’s it.” The rockruff wagged their tail, their front paws up on the counter.

“Got it!” The raichu jumped onto her tail and began to float upwards towards the right storage box for the team.

Tessa turned her head and spotted Dianne and Lulu behind them. “Oh, hey guys!”

Gen, the rockruff, turned their head and got down from the counter, smiling in the other team’s direction. “Good morning!”

“Good morning, Tessa, Gen.” Dianne greeted.

Lulu was quiet for a moment and breathed out. “Good morning,” she mumbled.

“I heard from Hermes about things going well, Lulu,” Tessa titled her head towards the buneary.

“Yeah, I hope you can start working again soon. We gotta show you the progress we’ve made! We left the map in our room,” Gen huffed. “We’re not going out to a dungeon just yet, but we’re preparing ahead of time. Should’ve grabbed the map anyway.”

Dianne watched her partner carefully. Lulu seemed confused at how casual they were talking to her. She could see the questions going through her mind about the situation. But then Lulu smiled, and the shiny could see she relaxed a little. “It’s fine, Gen. You could show me later. I don’t know when I’ll be working again, but I’ll be sure Hermes lets you know.”

“Here you two are,” the raichu floated back down towards them, placing down several items on the counter.

“Oh, thank you!” Gen turned around and put their paws on the counter again, shoving all the items into their bag.

“We’ll keep asking Hermes then to tell us when you’re coming back,” Tessa snickered.

“Yeah! See you guys later!” The rockruff finished, jumping back down to the ground and heading back towards the guild, their partner behind them.

Dianne and Lulu watched them for a moment, and then the shiny nudged her partner. “Your turn.”

The buneary flinched, and then she stepped forward and placed her bag on the counter.

“Good morning, Lulu.” The raichu smiled warmly at her. “It’s been a while. I’m glad to see you out and about.”

Lulu seemed at a loss for words again at the friendly greeting, but shook her head. “Um, thank you. I need to put some of these away.” She began digging through her bag and pulling out items.

Dianne sat down next to her and looked around. Since they hadn’t gone on jobs in a while and she already organized her bag, she had no personal business here.

The shiny observed other pokemon as they walked by, each of them performing their own morning routine. She noticed a few random ones look in their direction and start whispering among themselves. Dianne frowned a little. The thought that other pokemon were literally talking about her partner behind her back…she didn’t like it. But she couldn’t blame them either. Luella hadn’t shown her face to the public for a long time, and everyone definitely knew about what happened at this point. Of course not everyone was going to trust her again right away, Dianne and the others expected that. But…being out here now with her and seeing pokemon having no problem with speaking that way about her partner made her a little angry.

“Is that everything?”

The storage pokemon’s voice cut into Dianne’s thoughts and she looked over.

“Yes, thank you.” Lulu muttered, putting her bag back on and adjusting it.

“You two have a nice day then!”

“You too.” Dianne said back, standing up. The team walked away and headed to the next store.

.

Usually on their outings, Lulu would talk with some of the random pokemon around town. Gossip with them, make jokes, exchange information, tell them about the plans for the day, everything.

Today was the opposite.

The only pokemon Lulu interacted with were the shopkeepers. Any of the other pokemon that would normally go up to them to strike up a conversation ended up avoiding them instead. Everyone wanted to watch and stare at her, but when she looked back at them, they looked away.

The team entered their home after a while, their shopping trip done. Dianne had mixed feelings about the outing. While she was glad her partner was able to go outside again into the public, she also witnessed firsthand the whispering and avoiding of the townsfolk.

Dianne stepped over and hung up her bag by the door, and then she realized Lulu hadn’t moved. She looked over at her partner and tilted her head. “Lulu, you ok?”

Suddenly Lulu cried out, kneeling down on the floor and tears freely falling from her face. Her paws came up to cover her face, but the tears fell through anyway.

“Luella??” Dianne rushed to her partner’s side, sitting down next to her and looking over her.

“None of them, none of them, Dianne!” Lulu mumbled, her paws moving away enough from her face to speak. “None of them were actually my friends! Every single one of them couldn’t even look at me! They used to be so happy to see me! They’d call my name across town to get my attention so they could talk to me!” The buneary’s body shook and she lowered her head, almost laying down on the floor. “I was so stupid! I was so friendly and nice to everyone and they were nice back! And I thought that meant something! But I faked it, and so did they! Everything was fake! No one was ever going to be on my side!”

Lulu finally finished rambling and continued to sob. Dianne almost regretted the trip today. But…

Dianne moved closer, wrapping one front limb around her partner and leaning against her. Lulu flinched, but didn’t move away. “Tessa and Gen are your friends,” she muttered. “I think Hermes would say he’s your friend. And I’m your friend too. You do have supporters, Luella, you’re not alone.”

Lulu made a sound similar to a hiccup, and then leaned against Dianne, wrapping both her arms around her.

They were both quiet for a while, save for Lulu’s occasional sniffles. Finally she moved away and Dianne let her. Lulu sat up and rubbed her face, taking a deep breathe.

“You’re right,” she mumbled, slowly standing up and Dianne stood up as well. “Thanks,” Lulu looked at her and smiled a little.

Dianne nodded. While today was hard, it was still worth it. One step at a time, they were going to be ok.


End file.
